1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to traditional medicinal plant extracts, and particularly to Calotropis Procera extracts as anti-ulcerative colitis agents useful for the treatment of ulcerative colitis.
2. Description of the Related Art
Calotropis procera is a wild growing plant of the Asclepiadaceae family. Different parts of the plant are used in the treatment of various diseases in folk medicine, and their effects were confirmed by scientific experiments. Various studies have demonstrated biological activities of C. procera. There are reports of inflammatory responses, analgesic, anti-microbial larvicides, nematicides, anticancer, and weak antipyretic activities. There are also studies of contraceptive activities reported in rats. In addition, this plant showed potential hepatoprotective, antioxidant, and antibacterial activities.
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease that primarily affects the colonic mucosa and sub-mucosa. The most common symptoms of UC are ulcers and inflammation of the inner lining of the colon that lead to symptoms of bloody diarrhea, passage of pus, mucus, and abdominal cramping during bowel movements. Currently, there is no effective therapy to cure the disease, but the mainstream treatment depends on the reduction of the symptoms. The treatment depends on the severity of the disease. Therefore, treatment is adjusted for each individual.
In the discovery of new anti-ulcerogenic drugs, special interest has been directed to natural plant products based upon traditional medicine (TM). Therapies based on natural products (plants & herbs) derived from TM have proved to be clinically effective and relatively less toxic than existing pharmaceutical drugs because they reduce the offensive side effects of pharmaceutical drugs.
Thus, extracts of Calotropis Procera extracts as anti-ulcerative colitis agents solving the aforementioned problems are desired.